Casey Anthony murder trial 6-1-2011

The Prairie Chicken
June 1, 2011

It was a busy day in Judge Perry’s court Wednesday, a full schedule of witnesses and each questioned and dispatched in short order, with only a couple exceptions as you’ll read below.

Amy Huizenga came back this morning and was cross-examined by defense.  Judge Perry had decided against allowing the prosecution to bring up the money Casey stole from Amy, which would reveal that Casey had previously pleaded guilty to six felony counts because of the theft.  She testified that their friendship was only about five month’s total, and that it was obviously one-sided.  She testified that Casey had led her to believe that they were going to room together in the Anthony house which her parents were moving out of.  “Sign it over to her.”  Then Baez asked her if she was a heavy drinker, if she had ever driven drunk, and  asked if she had moved in with Ricardo Morales after July 15, (she did because she had no place to live and no money, both thanks to Casey, but not allowed to be spoken of in front of the jury.)  Then the question that chapped me; Baez asked her if she had “gone out” with Jesse Grund after they met in mid-July (she had, but just to compare notes to see if they could figure out where Casey might have taken Caylee.)  So in trying to discredit Amy, he tried to make her look like a jealous, drunken whore, picking up Casey’s sloppy seconds, her castoffs.  I’d like to box his ears for that.  Casey’s friends asked for none of this.  They accepted her at face value and were open and accepting of her.  What a slap in the face.  To make it worse, she was given a subpoena when she left the courtroom Tuesday to return to be a defense witness. 

Lee Anthony was up next.  Lee’s testimony was consistent with the statements that he gave at the first of the investigation.  He said that his mother and sister were very combative on July 15, and that Casey refused to speak to her mother which was why he followed Casey into her room, hoping to get her to tell him.  He said there was a jealousy between mother and daughter and Casey told Lee that Cindy had told her several times that she was an un-fit mother.  He testified that she told him after a while that her nanny had stolen Caylee and she had not seen her in 31 days, the conversation that was overheard by Cindy which spurred the third 911 call from Cindy to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OSCO).  He also relayed the statement from Casey, “maybe I’m just a spiteful bitch.”   At one point during a recess they made eye contact and she smiled.  Lee did not. While he was not asked today about the allegation by Casey that he had molested her, he was dismissed subject to recall.  We will hear more from Lee.

Sheriff’s deputy Rendon Fletcher was called to the stand.  Fletcher was a responding officer on July 15, 2008 and was dispatched to the Sawgrass apartments to check out Zanieda Gongalez.  After finding the apartment empty, he spoke with the apartment manager and found out that the apartment had been vacant for months.

Sheriff’s deputy Adriana Avecedo was up after lunch. She arrived at the Anthony home on July 15 and after speaking to Corporal Fletcher, Avecedo took Casey to Sawgrass apartments with Casey sitting in the back and giving directions. Casey pointed to the apartment on the second floor apartment 210. Casey was never put in handcuffs, nor was she arrested, as Casey’s lies hadn’t yet started to surface.

Next up was Amanda Macklin is the community manager of Sawgrass apartments.  She stated that she did not know Casey Anthony and that there was never a Zenieda Fernandez Gonzales who lived in those apartments.

And moving right along, Prosecution called Reginald Hosey, a OSCO supervisor in charge of the scene at the Anthony home on July 15.  Once Sheriffs deputies arrived, the family was separated and each questioned individually.  Hosey spoke with Casey early on.  She told him that she and her mother were not getting along and that Cindy was making threats to take custody of Caylee from her.  Casey did not make much about the kidnapping.  Hosey testified, as did Fletcher and Avecedo, that Casey displayed a flat affect, very unemotional and removed from what was going on.

OSCO Detective Yuri Melich was the last witness called on Wednesday.  It was a bit boring at first.  Melich read the statement that Casey agave him on July 15/16 2008, and after he read it, the actual audio tape of the interview between Melich and Casey was played for the jurors.  Casey remained subdued as lie after lie came out of her mouth on the recording.  Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth she was so cool. 

Then Baez asked him if he ever went by another name, i.e. Dick Tracy Orlando.  Melich looked puzzled and stymied by Prosecution objection, Baez pursued, risking the wrath Judge Perry, to enter evidence that Yuri Melich had posted on a popular crime website, webslueths.com under the ID of Dick Tracy Orlando.   Baez never shared this discovery with Prosecution (all evidence had a dead-line of December 10) so again, we have to wait for Judge Perry’s ruling on whether it should be allowed or if anything would impeach Melichs character.  From the stack of paper Baez handed to Perry, much of it was well wishes from bloggers when Melich broke his leg, Judge Perry told Baez he has until tomorrow morning to show him something “pacific” that showed Melich discussed the case or posts that showed he had a bias toward the defendant.  Not a stack of paper.  It seems that at one time OSCO had reprimanded him for his involvement with a blog.  Baez then beat on him the rest of the day about why  there wasn’t a more extensive search of the swimming pool.  Of course there are photo’s showing police looking at every inch of the backyard of the Anthony house, but Baez has probably forgotten that.

I wonder if Baez is starting to morph to Casey think.  Just throw it all against the wall and see what sticks. 

The Judges habit of dropping the s when he says “specific” make is come out “pacific”.  This wouldn’t be so irritating if he didn’t say it so much.  Just annoying. 

It’s also being reported by wesh.com in Orlando that the IRS is dunning Casey Anthony for about $68K.  It seems that when Casey and Jose Baez sold Caylee photo’s for $200K+, Baez took it all and didn’t pay tax on her behalf. 

Welcome to the grown up world Casey